The word of the gos­pel tel­ls of the sac­ri­fi­ce and the work of ato­ne­ment that are ac­cep­tab­le to God. Prop­het Isai­ah fo­re­told of that per­fect ato­ne­ment sac­ri­fi­ce, Je­sus Christ. Isai­ah was al­so al­lo­wed to see a fe­ast pre­pa­red on Mount Zion and the mar­ri­a­ge fe­ast of the Lamb. This vi­si­on of hope is still of­fe­red to be­lie­vers in the word of God. We can al­so get a fo­re­tas­te of he­a­ven’s fe­ast in the Lord’s Holy Sup­per.

Isai­ah was cal­led to be a prop­het when King Uz­zi­ah died, about 740 ye­ars be­fo­re the birth of our Re­dee­mer. Du­ring Isai­ah’s time the pe­op­le did not want to be obe­dient to the will of God. “They have for­sa­ken the Lord, they have pro­vo­ked the Holy One of Is­ra­el un­to an­ger, they are gone away back­ward.” (Isai­ah 1:2–4).

To obey is bet­ter than sac­ri­fi­ce

Alt­hough the pe­op­le were di­so­be­dient, they per­for­med the re­qui­red sac­ri­fi­ci­al ri­tes. Their he­arts were not in the sac­ri­fi­ci­al ri­tes, and the­re­fo­re God re­bu­ked the pe­op­le through Isai­ah: “To what pur­po­se is the mul­ti­tu­de of yo­ur sac­ri­fi­ces un­to me? saith the Lord. I am full of the burnt of­fe­rings of rams, and the fat of fed be­asts, and I de­light not in the blood of bul­locks, or of lambs, or of he go­ats.” (Isai­ah 1: 11). God had al­re­a­dy re­min­ded King Saul of this du­ring the time of Prop­het Sa­mu­el: “Hath the Lord as great de­light in burnt of­fe­rings and sac­ri­fi­ces, as in obey­ing the voi­ce of the Lord? Be­hold, to obey is bet­ter than sac­ri­fi­ce, and to he­ar­ken than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15: 22).

Isai­ah’s ser­mon of re­pen­tan­ce

Prop­het Isai­ah loo­ked at life in his time. He saw how pe­op­le were for­sa­king the word of God. He un­ders­tood that this would have con­se­qu­en­ces: for­sa­king of the word of God was vi­sib­le as so­cie­tal and na­ti­o­nal prob­lems. The count­ry was fil­led with re­bel­li­on among the prin­ces and the pe­op­le. The poor were op­p­res­sed. The go­ver­nors ac­ted cont­ra­ry to the law which God had gi­ven to Mo­ses. The na­ti­on be­ca­me we­a­ker while the sur­roun­ding po­wers grew stron­ger.

Even in that time, the ser­mon of God’s word was a ser­mon of the law and the gos­pel. Isai­ah be­seec­hed those who had fal­len in­to sin to turn: “Wash you, make you clean; ce­a­se to do evil.” Even then, pe­ni­tent ones were pro­mi­sed: “Though yo­ur sins be as scar­let, they shall be as white as snow. – – If ye be wil­ling and obe­dient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye re­fu­se and re­bel, ye shall be de­vou­red with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spo­ken it.” (Isai­ah 1:16–20).

God told Isai­ah al­re­a­dy be­fo­re­hand that the pe­op­le ne­vert­he­less would not lis­ten to his ser­mon of re­pen­tan­ce. They did not lis­ten to Isai­ah even though he spoke of cap­ti­vi­ty that would con­cern the en­ti­re na­ti­on and of dest­ruc­ti­on of the temp­le. He proc­lai­med that the si­tu­a­ti­on would con­ti­nue that way un­til the pe­op­le pe­ris­hed, and on­ly those who were obe­dient to God would be sa­ved and would be ab­le to re­turn to their own land (Isai­ah 6).

Sweet-smel­ling sac­ri­fi­ce

Isai­ah loo­ked at his own time, but he saw even furt­her. He fo­re­told of cap­ti­vi­ty from which the pe­op­le were not al­lo­wed to re­turn un­til the reign of Cy­rus, king of Per­sia. He was al­so ab­le to com­fort the pe­op­le with the co­ming of the Prin­ce of Pe­a­ce, the birth of the Mes­si­a­nic king. He saw as far as the dawn of the new co­ve­nant and its “sweet-smel­ling sac­ri­fi­ce” (Eph. 5:2), which was ac­cep­tab­le to God.

Isai­ah fo­re­told of this per­fect sac­ri­fi­ce, Je­sus Christ. By faith we are ab­le to be­co­me par­ta­kers of His work of ato­ne­ment. The word of the gos­pel tel­ls of the sac­ri­fi­ce and the work of ato­ne­ment that are ac­cep­tab­le to God. This word is proc­lai­med by the pe­op­le of God yet to­day.

Fe­ast on Mount Zion

Prop­het Isai­ah was ab­le to see still furt­her. He told of a fe­ast on Mount Zion. This fe­ast, desc­ri­bed in chap­ter 25 of the Book of Isai­ah, has been in­terp­re­ted as an esc­ha­to­lo­gi­cal ima­ge. He was ab­le to see to the end of time, to the mar­ri­a­ge fe­ast of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).

The fe­ast was a vi­si­on of hope for the pe­op­le who had to suf­fer. This vi­si­on of hope is still of­fe­red to be­lie­vers in the word of God. We can al­so get a fo­re­tas­te of he­a­ven’s fe­ast in the Lord’s Holy Sup­per. These fes­ti­ve mo­ments are me­ant for en­cou­ra­ge­ment so that we would have the strength to tra­vel all the way to the he­a­ven­ly fes­ti­vi­ty.

En­cou­ra­ge­ment is nee­ded, as the jour­ney of the pe­op­le of God in this time is al­so a jour­ney of “aba­se­ment and shame”. One day “the Lord God will wipe away te­ars from off all fa­ces; and the re­bu­ke of his pe­op­le shall he take away from off all the earth.” (Isai­ah 25:8).

With ey­es of faith we can see far ahe­ad to he­a­ven’s fe­ast. Re­gard­less of the troub­les of the jour­ney, we can al­re­a­dy now join in the words of the Book of Isai­ah: “Lo this is our God; we have wai­ted for him, and he will save us.” (Isai­ah 25:9).

Text Tuo­mas Töl­li

Trans­la­ti­on K. K.

Pub­lis­hed Sii­o­nin Lä­he­tys­leh­ti 1/2014

Teks­tis­sä kä­si­tel­lään seu­raa­via raa­ma­tun­koh­tia: Isai­ah 25:6–9

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­lii­tees­sä 11/2014.